Contact & Convictions
by Delphi913
Summary: Maria wakes up one depressing evening to find a mermaid wrapped around her waist. Where will things lead from there? Semi/Complete - Refer to Second Author's Note
1. The Importance of Cuddling

**A/N: This is just something cute I thought up, mostly because I've never seen the pairing done before. I'm sure SOMEONE's probably done it before me, but I don't particularly want to wade through all 374 stories in the category, especially when so many of them are from Xenosaga I, a game that I personally dislike. So, you know what they say, when you want to see something done but can't find it anywhere, go ahead and give a stab at it yourself.**

"Speech" / _'Thoughts'_

 **Disclaimer: Xenogears belongs to Square Enix, not that they're doing anything with it.**

 **Yggdrasil IV (Nisan Dock)**

Maria Balthasar's eyes fluttered open to reveal only the darkness of the ladies bedroom. Ever since her Queen Zephyr had ordered her to assist this motley crew in the destruction of the Solarian Empire and now in stopping the Gazel Ministry's Soylent system, she had elected to stay in the little girl's room with Margie, Primera, and Chu-Chu, leaving Elly the room all by herself with only Emeralda to keep the woman company once the mysterious little girl joined. However, with recent developments, their fiery-haired friend and mother figure, (at least to Emeralda; Maria thought she was rather like a big sister), was looking more and more disheveled and miserable with each passing day. They'd spent weeks and weeks ferrying in refugees to Nisan while the Gazel were dormant and plotting their next move, and caring for the mutated peoples whose lives had been so vilely ripped from them had taken its inevitable toll on the elder mage.

With Fei having only so much time to comfort her during the daytime, Maria, who felt guilty about leaving the woman alone in the first place, had taken it upon herself to stay in the ladies bedroom with her and try to keep her company along with Emeralda. Besides, it wasn't as if seeing all the horrible pain that the populace was going through wasn't taking its toll on her. Over time, she'd felt her heart shrivel up upon seeing crying family after crying family beg her to end their suffering, and she could feel herself physically deteriorating as well. Her hair had completely lost it's frills and hung limply at the sides of her head, her eyes had lost the glimmer they used to hold and had bags under them from the lack of sleep, and she was pretty sure she'd lost weight as her dresses all felt much looser on her now. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and gave them Seibzhen to fill in for her, ordering him to follow the good doctor's commands until she felt up to returning.

Looking around the room, she saw the two other beds which were, of course, unoccupied. Elly was working herself practically to death these days, so if she was asleep, then it was most likely from passing out at the relief centers in town. Emeralda, who had grown far closer to the woman in recent months after shedding her initial aloofness in lieu of almost daughterly compassion, would most likely be with her, assisting her with the many limbs she could manifest from her nanomachine-filled body. That was what she thought anyway, until she became very aware of warmth and weight that were not her own coming from beneath the sheets she was currently occupying.

Flinging off the sheets she had pulled up to her collarbone, her eyes widened in shock.

 _'W-What...?'_

There, clinging tightly to her chest, both arms wrapped around the slightly taller girl, was Emeralda who looked more peaceful than she'd seen the little girl in weeks. She continued to stare in disbelief, watching the girl breath in and out while the smallest smile graced her lips. It was at this point her memory decided to torture her by belatedly bringing her the realization that she hadn't had a nightmare the previous night. Every night after the first day of transporting refugees in to Nisan, she'd been plagued by nightmares of varying degrees. The worst ones had shown to her images of her father, Nikolai, and herself mutating and suffering endlessly while the Gazel and Krelian laughed at her and taunted her for being unable to do anything. Needless to say she'd woken up in tears on those particular occasions, causing her to try and avoid sleep as much as possible. Now, though, with the young mermaid holding her in a comforting embrace, she'd been able to sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time.

Coming to this realization, she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. _'She drove the nightmares away by sleeping at my side? Isn't that the kind of thing shared between... lovers?'_

She felt her face go red as a ripe tomato as she attempted to shake the thought away. It was true that she was only 14 years of age at this point, but loosing both her parents at such a young age as she had as well as working her hardest to keep Shevat safely guarded and her Queen in good company, even becoming one of the few the 500-year old child would call "friend", had brought about an earlier stage of maturity and intelligence than in most children in both mind and body. She was of the mental capacity to hold romantic interest in another, though she had yet to experience such a thing... or at least she thought she did. The tanned girl's warmth was starting to become dizzying.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she decided that contemplating the situation was going to bring nothing more than increasingly strange thoughts, she took the green-haired girl's shoulders in her hands and gave them a light shake. Slowly, and groggily, her eyes flicked open and she sat up in bed , releasing her hold on the taller girl. Maria honestly could not tell whether or not she missed the shorter girl's touch. Eventually her yellow orbs flicked up to meet Maria's own grays and a large grin broke out on her face.

"Maria's awake," she said simply and cheerily, in a surprisingly restrained voice for the typically energetic young girl.

Once more Maria blinked, not knowing how to react to the little one. After a few silent moments between the two, she let out a sigh.

"What are you doing here, sleeping with me, Emmy? I've never seen you do that with anyone else but Fei and Elly."

Emeralda looked away, tilting her head for a moment as if thinking. "Maria looked so tired and sad. Emeralda remembered Kim's voice. Kim taught me all sorts of things. He said that when people look sad, you should try to cheer them up and make them happy. He said that a hug can make people relax and feel warm inside."

The shorter girl turned and looked back at her with clear concern in her eyes.

"Maria was tossing and turning so much that Emeralda felt worried. Emeralda thought Maria could use a hug, so she hugged her until Maria calmed down."

Maria just continued looking down at the strange girl. Over the time since she'd joined them, the robot girl had expressed a wide range of phases that had constantly drawn Maria into uncomfortable territory as she was probably her best friend. At first, a lot of the time the girl had expressed happiness at seeing people that she'd thought were her parents and then confusion and frustration at the fact that they were different than what she remembered "before she slept" as the shorter of the two had put it. Eventually, the girl began to show a steadily increasing desire to become more independent, constantly propositioning Maria on how a young girl like her should grow up and occasionally delving into more *ahem* embarrassing topics their conversations grew deeper and deeper. In the months since she'd come to know the girl, her speech had improved quite a bit as well as she was apparently tired of people staring at her as if she was daft every time she spoke. Though she still had problems with referring to herself and other people in the third-person. With this in mind, Maria determined that it did make sense for her to try and do something like this for a friend so that she could grow further into her own person. There was still something that was bothering her, though.

"Emmy," she approached cautiously, "You could have left after I calmed down and gone back to sleep on your own or with Fei or Elly. Why did you... stay with me?"

There. She'd laid it out bluntly and hopefully she would receive a straight answer even though she was slightly worried of what the girl's answer might be. To her surprise, the emerald-haired mermaid looked slightly away from her with a blush on her cheeks. Maria was positively shocked at this reaction as it was the first time she'd ever seen the girl get embarrassed over anything, not even when they were discussing the proper handling of her... lower regions.

"Kim also said something else," she replied, in the softest of tones, "He said that people in similar situations can grow together and eventually love each other, and that it was how he met Mama. Em... No, I heard about what happened to your father from Citan."

Maria's eyes widened even further, reaching the size of dinner plates. The first half of the sentence and hearing her refer to herself in the first person distracted her from any animosity she might have held at the good doctor for thoughtlessly telling the mermaid about her past.

 _'What is happening? Is this a dream, and if it is, is she still going to be there when I wake up?'_ , the teenager thought, her heart pounding.

"When Em- When I looked at YOU," she continued slowly, attempting to shed her vocal ticks, "last night and I saw you crying in your sleep, it made me feel weird inside. It made me hurt in here." She pointed at the area where her heart would be.

"Ma- You always looked hurt whenever I talked about Fei and Kim and I never knew why, but Em- I do now," she said, still stumbling over her words somewhat, "You were hurt by me having Kim with Fei, weren't you?"

Maria snapped back to reality from the lucid place she'd been before. "No! I wasn't- I was never jealous of you because of Fei," she answered, not really believing herself.

Emeralda gave her a sad smile in response. "It's okay. Now I know that I'm the same as you, because Fei isn't Kim. Kim tucked me into bed a long time ago and disappeared. I've spent so much time with Fei that I know he's a different person, that he's not Kim. It was just too hard to admit."

By this point, there were tears streaming out of the shorter girl's eyes and Maria reached over and took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. She may not be sure where the mermaid was going with this, but she knew that the girl in front of her was her best friend next to Margie and she would support her.

"I wanted to tell you that, so you wouldn't be so hurt anymore," the more diminutive of the pair resumed, giving Maria's hand a thankful squeeze, "because when I think about how much you've been helping me since I've been here, it makes me feel warm inside and I feel all light-headed and fluttery in here." she pointed to her heart again. "Where the pain is now."

Maria couldn't believe what she was hearing. Not only was this girl having feelings of attraction, but she had them whenever she was thinking about _her_. Maria herself had experienced feelings such as these in the past couple years of her life as her hormones awakened, but these feelings had all been directed at handsome young men so far. She'd never felt such a thing towards another girl before. It was improper, it was wrong, it went against everything she'd been taught, and yet... She couldn't help but feel her own heart continue to pound as she held the mermaid's hand and a light, airy feeling began to spread all over her body, as the girl continued to pour her heart out right in front of her. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, and the fact that they were sitting in a bed and holding hands was NOT helping.

"I'm not ready to tell Fei yet, but I wanted to tell you," the emerald-haired girl said with finality, her voice barely above a whisper, "and I wanted to hug you the whole night because I didn't want to see you hurt. I wanted, no, I WANT to see you happy, because it makes me feel that warm feeling inside. It makes me happy."

Maria was still reeling from everything she'd heard. For the longest time she couldn't even speak, her tongue tying up every time she tried, causing Emmy to giggle as she waited for the taller girl to respond. She just wasn't sure how she should respond. Did she want to approach the topic head on? The church had always professed attraction and love between a man and a woman and she'd never seen two people of the same gender together as a couple. Even Nisan's angelic statues, that were the very centerpiece of their faith, were masculine and feminine in design. It made sense to her too. She'd studied the Shevatian libraries religiously when she'd got there, her capacity for learning drastically increased with her Limiter removed, in an attempt to entertain her Queen and rouse her from the emotionless state she was constantly in. One of the various theories that she'd read, and the one that made her aware of same-sex couples in the first place was particularly about human animosity and stigma against other races, religions, sexual orientations, etc was just one of nature's cruel ways of keeping population control. ' _Why wouldn't it be?'_ she had thought back then, _'Only a man and a woman can have a child together.'_. If the her back then could only see the her in the present, swirling in indecision about a possible love confession from one of her closest female friends.

Pulling herself together, she knew there was at least a couple things should could say with certainty. For starters, In spite of all her thoughts, her heart was definitely hammering inside her chest and her head was light which was a clear sign that she was attracted to the girl sitting before her as well. Additionally, she certainly liked Emeralda as a person at least. Despite any discomfort the girl might have caused with her prodding and her connection to Fei, she was still a really good and reliable friend who sought to repay her for the knowledge and the help that she'd provided. Taking all this into consideration, she still found herself at an impasse with the conflicting sides of her mind.

She thought for a long time, but still no answer came to her as she began to realize that approaching the problem directly was the only course of action that would get her any sort of closure, no matter the result.

"Emeralda," she spoke tentatively, somewhat afraid to continue. "Are you saying that you've... that you've... fallen in love... with _me?_ "

The girl in front of her blinked a few times, carrying a blank expression on her face, before putting her hand up to her own chin in thought.

"Love? Kim spoke to me about love," she stated in a low, contemplative voice, "and I've read about love in a lot of the books, but Kim loved Mama and the books always describe a man and woman doing those things like hugging and kissing and... touching each other." The mermaid looked up at her with an unreadable expression that looked mildly like worry. "I can be a boy, but I don't want to be. Papa and Mama wanted a girl and I want to keep being a girl for them and because I like being one. But... Can two girls love? I've never... I don't know anything about that."

Maria took a deep breath and let it out. This would be relatively easier than confronting her own feelings, which she'd have to do anyway after this, so relaxing was probably foolish.

"Yes," she nodded, "Two girls can love. Two boys can love too. I've never seen either myself, but I know that it exists. It's been written about many times in various fictional and research contexts that I've found in Shevat's libraries. The kinds of people that do this sort of thing don't often show themselves in public because of the fear that they might be shunned, even by family and close friends, and because they can't have children like a man and woman can. The churches too, preach against such things. Even Nisan's scripts, though non-specific, definitely have that subtext."

She let out a long sigh at this, making sure to squeeze the girl's hand to make sure she knew she still had support. The girl had begun shaking after her explanation and she could no longer see her golden orbs, hidden beneath a curtain of silky hair.

"Please understand, Em, that a relationship like that is dangerous and someone could get hurt."

Then she nearly fell over as the mermaid's head whipped up and she could see the fires of determination burn in the shorter girl's eyes.

"Then... Then, I'd protect you," she said with conviction, "because I think I really do. I think that I... that I love you, Maria."

The taller girl sharply gasped at the words she'd not heard anyone say to her in four years.

"You're smart and kind and you're very pretty," the yellow-eyed girl continued, not letting the fire die, "and you're so... mature and lady-like. When I'm around you, I feel safe and calm because I know that whatever dangerous thing is happening, you would face it head on and without fear. I... I feel so jumbled up inside that I don't know how to put it better. I just... love you, Maria."

Maria's mind had gone blank at the girl's confession. The last time she'd heard those words out of anyone's mouth was when her father had pushed her into the waiting arms of Seibzhen as she made her escape while the military police dragged Nikolai away to... well, she knew the rest. Tears streamed from her eyes as she realized just how much joy it brought her to hear someone say that again, covering her face with her hands, hiding the smile that had broken out.

Emeralda was looking at her with a worried and somewhat hurt expression, she could see from the corner of her eye. "I caused you to hurt again, didn't I? I'm so sorry Maria! I promise I won't say it to you again and I'll leave right now!"

The mermaid quickly turned around and attempted to release Maria's hand from their collective grasp. Maria, recognizing what was happening, gripped her hand even tighter. The mermaid had only a second to look confused before Maria embraced her from behind, folding her arms across the shorter girl's chest and pulling the girl flush against her. She could spy her surprised blush from here.

"No, Emmy, you didn't do anything wrong and I don't want you to leave," the taller girl reassured her, tears still glistening on her cheeks.

Emeralda turned her head slightly to look at her, a confused and worried visage still on her face. "Then, why are you...?"

She just shook her head and smiled. "No, silly, these aren't tears of sorrow. I'm crying because you made me really happy when you said that you loved me."

Her eyes widened slightly before her face settled into a content expression and she leaned back into the older-looking girl's shoulder. "Does this mean you...?"

She could here a short, indecisive sigh escape from her lips which most likely stabbed the heart of the girl she was holding in her arms. "Give me just a bit of time to think. I want to settle this here and now."

 _'Do I love her back?'_ she thought, _'Just setting what everyone else thinks aside, what do I want? What do I like about her?'_

 _'Everything'_ was the immediate answer that came back to her. She loved everything about the girl who was definitely her senior but looked her junior. She loved the immense energy that the girl had and applied to everything she did; she loved the determination that fueled her conviction, causing her to never give up even when she should have; she loved the way she fought for her family and friends, protecting them with her body and soul because of how afraid she was to lose them after being alone for 3,000 years; and most of all she loved how hard the girl pushed herself to become her own woman, fulfilling her father's wishes, and how far she'd exceeded that goal today by declaring her love for Maria. Everything about Emeralda from her exotically beautiful looks, to her pranks on the crew (especially Chu-Chu for her "love" she held for Fei), to her warrior-child personality, to just the warmth she was receiving through their contact; she loved it all. She let out a little gasp as she found just how much she wanted to be with this girl.

 _'But what will the people say?!'_ she heard a small part of her mind shout to her even now. The more she thought about it, however, the more it didn't seem to matter. The world was being ravaged by genetic mutations and countless conflicts between them and the remainder of an evil empire. The world probably had more important things on its mind than two girls falling in love. She began to light up with joy as she began to comprehend how little their relationship would matter to others. If they both survived this, they'd be heroes too. She doubted people would raise a word against them if they managed to defeat Gazel and Krelian's ilk and come out alive. The realization that she could love this girl without restraint filled her to the brim with warmth and joy.

Letting go of a startled Emeralda, she spun the girl around and embraced her from the front this time, burying her face in the mermaid's shoulder.

"I love you too, Emmy. I love you!" she said loudly, her voice barely containing the wealth of emotions that was within.

It was Emeralda's turn to stare at her stunned. "You really do?" the words fell out of her mouth.

Maria pulled back, allowing the girl to see the feelings that burned in her eyes. "Yes, Emmy. I love everything about you. You're so energetic and you always push forward, always finding the will to protect the ones you love without hesitation. Even though I don't think we'll need it, I believe you when you say you'll protect me."

Slowly, the shorter girl broke out into the widest and most open smile she'd ever seen on the girl. Without any doubts existing between the two of them, Emeralda pulled Maria into a full shared embrace, resting her own head in the crook the taller girl's neck, the two lying back on the bed in a far more mutual position than had gotten them into this situation in the first place. Not that they minded that much anymore. They stayed like that a while, just sharing in each others warmth and happiness, their fast-beating hearts speaking louder than their words ever could. Though, it couldn't last forever. An initiative had to be taken.

"Hey, Maria?"

"Mmmhh, What is it, Em?"

The girl lower in stature raised herself up so that she could see her new lover's face.

"Do you want to try it?"

Maria frowned. "Try what, Em?"

The girl looked away bashfully, a blush gracing her cheeks. "You know... A kiss?"

Maria's eyes widened a little before she let out a chuckle. "I should have known you'd be so forward, Emmy. Alright. I'll lead if you're nervous."

Emeralda, not able to look at her from embarrassment, simply nodded.

The taller girl let out another chuckle before she sat up on the bed as Emmy took the position right in front of her, sitting herself on her folded knees and still unable to look at her. Wanting to rectify this, Maria took both sides of her face in her hands and redirected the girls gaze so she could stare directly into her eyes, surprised at what she found. Along with the usual fire, she could see a fear within her, and one she knew very well. It was the fear that all of this was a dream and that tomorrow they'd wake up and everything would be back to normal and they wouldn't feel such a deep form of love again. She knew this fear because she was feeling it as well, the fear that she would never hear "I love you" from another person who really meant it ever again. She didn't want this to end.

"Emmy, I'm right here, alright," she said soothingly, stroking the girl's cheek, "and I'm not leaving. I'll be here when you wake up and hopefully each day after that because I never want to stop hearing you say 'I love you'."

The girl broke out into a huge smile again, wiping her eyes as fresh tears spilled from them. "So these are joy tears, huh? I think I like feeling so happy that I could cry."

Maria nodded in agreement, "Now let's get to this kiss. It's my first, so I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll lead."

Emeralda's nervousness returned, but she nodded back.

Slowly but surely, Maria gripped both sides of the mermaid's face once more and began to draw closer and closer, filling up her lover's vision with just her. Neither dared to close their eyes for fear of ruining the moment for the other as their breaths caught. Finally their lips met and... it was awkward. Emeralda was squirming in her hands, their positioning was off, their noses bumped together, and both pairs of eyes were still open the whole time. Maria, sensing that this wasn't going anywhere successful pulled away with a disappointed huff.

"What's say we try that again?" she said to her lover with a calming smile, "Just relax this time. You don't have to be scared of me, Em."

Emeralda, looking at her, took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. I'll try. I love you, so I'll try."

Savoring those amazing words once again, Maria tried something a little different this time. She reached one arm up behind Emeralda's head while the other snaked around her waist and drew her flush against the other girl.

Staring into the girl's golden eyes, she asked, "Are you ready this time, my love?"

Emeralda barely remembered nodding before Maria pulled their lips together and this time, everything clicked into place. Both girls closed their eyes, as the felt the warmth of the other pressed tenderly against them. Neither was experienced so rather than a precise and graceful dance, their liplock was more of a sloppy competition of brute force, both pushing against each other and trying to match the intensity of the other. Maria squealed in surprise as she felt a tongue press against her lips, seemingly demanding access. _'Being so forward as always. That's my Emmy.'_ , she thought dreamily. Not wanting the experience to end, she allowed the soft appendage to enter her jaws. It felt strange at first, she noted as it drew her out of the experience, but she found that the more she pressed against it with her own tongue, the more enticing it felt. The more and more they pressed, the more and more their passions rose until-

*Swish*

They broke apart quickly and stared at the open door as they watched Elly stumble inside looking half dead. Without even noticing the two, she quickly undressed, pulling off her uniform's overcoat, boots, and stockings to reveal a tanktop and a pair of loose undershorts. Without another word, she crashed onto her bed where she finally caught sight of the two girls on the opposite side of the room... in each others arms... with a thin trail of saliva leading from one girl's mouth to the other. Seeing this, the woman's eyes expanded to an enormous degree and her mouth opened and closed a few times before she apparently decided she was already dreaming and simply rolled over to face the other direction and nodded off.

The two girls looked at each other and began snickering as if they'd gotten an overwhelmingly funny inside joke.

"Come, lets get some rest, my love," Maria said, giving Emmy a peck on the cheek before laying down and beckoning the mermaid to join her.

The shorter of the two was only too happy to lie down right next to her and be drawn in by her warmth as her back rested against her lover's chest.

"I love you," she said simply, beginning to catch on to just how much the taller girl enjoyed hearing her say it.

"I think I'm ready to rejoin the refugee efforts," she whispered happily into her lover's ear, "So, let's give Elly all the support we can, alright?"

"Alright," Emmy whispered back, already drifting off in the warmth her loved one provided.

The last thing she remembered hearing before sleep took her completely was Maria whispering a final, "Goodnight, my love. I'll be here when you wake. Always."

With that, the two drifted into a new day in their stressful life, but it was okay, because they had each other and with each other at their side, their courage knew no bounds. What was split would be joined once more, God would be slain, and the ring of destiny would be broken forever. Thousands of years later when parents read stories to their children about the destructive god that was defeated by the Sentinels who gloriously defended the world, they would always be sure to mention the Angel and the Goliath who always fought together and lived together joined in the pains and passions of love.

 **A/N: Wow, I can't believe I actually finished this in the same day as my first author's note. That usually never happens, but this one just wouldn't let me go until I finished it. This isn't the proudest thing I've ever created and honestly, it was a rather casual thing that I wrote mainly to just get my ideas down and as good practice for future romance scenes I might write. It's certainly not refined at all.**

 **Given that the Xenogears board barely ever updates, I'm not actually expecting anyone to read this, but if you do then please leave a review now that you're done with it. If I get enough positive feedback, I might consider writing up another chapter or two. After all, this is before anyone has a chance to react to their relationship and it's also before Adult!Emmy. So, that could be interesting to write about. Who knows? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.**

 **Oh, and for those who were wondering, the working name for this project was "You Needed a Hug!" :D**

 **Thanks for reading! Ciao!**


	2. Reactions: Elly - Mama Bear

**A/N: Well, I have a definite audience of one person now. Impressive, I know. So, this will be the first of the reactions series, where we see how the many characters react to the relationship formed by the smallest two party members (cause Chu-Chu doesn't count). We'll be starting off by continuing the tease I placed at the end of the first chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Xenogears belongs to Square and may the waves help us if they ever decide to use it again**

"Speech"/' _Thoughts'_

 **Yggdrasil IV (Ladies Bedroom; Nisan Docks)**

Elly awoke early the next morning not well-rested in the slightest. No, she was absolutely exhausted beyond all comprehension for rational thought. If it hadn't been for her military and survival training, and her fierce instinct for protection of the people that all but worshipped her now, she'd most likely be stuck in bed on the doctor's orders. _'And you were 500 years ago,'_ said a soft voice from the back of her mind that she couldn't hear. Citan had certainly dropped increasingly obvious hints that she should be resting more, but she just couldn't when there were people out there suffering.

' _Heh,'_ she thought in a rare moment of amusement, _'I guess my motherly instinct extends beyond Emeralda, huh?'_

The red-maned woman smiled to herself before blinking in remembrance.

' _Oh. Emeralda… and Maria…'_

That had been a dream, right? It was just an incredibly strange dream that was the result of being incredibly tired and wired up on the large amount of stimulants she was taking. It had to be. Sighing with relief, she rolled over … and saw the two girls sleeping calmly in each other's arms. Maria's were wrapped around the shorter girl's waist while Emeralda had both of hers, and an additional set produced from her hair, tightly holding her bed partner's upper back. The two of them were smiling widely and it was incredibly cute… or at least it would have been if the self-same motherly instinct from earlier hadn't taken over.

Elly knew she had no business prying into the girl's private life, especially since Emeralda wasn't her _actual_ daughter. _'Oh, if only you knew,'_ an irritated voice arose in her mind this time, though she could once again not hear it. However, she couldn't help the conflict that was rising within her; it was her upbringing after all. Solaris was dedicated to Eugenics and mastering their own genome, and, though for most of her life she'd thought she was the product of an illegitimate birth, their morals had been pounded into her just like any other child of the empire. People who engaged in… those sorts of acts with the same gender were executed or made third-class citizens and used as slaves or even more likely as test subjects before being sent off to the… Soylent System. She winced as the weight of it all crashed on her. Though it had been months and she had the support of her friends and of Fei and Emeralda, she was still broken up by the death of her parents.

Taking a deep breath to air out her mind of thoughts, she suddenly found something she hadn't considered before. _'What if I just dreamed the kissing part? Is it all that strange for the two of them to sleep together?'_ she considered, holding her chin. _'I mean, Emmy's never done that with anyone except myself and Fei before… At least, I think. They are both young girls. Maybe it's just a sisterly thing?'_

The young woman shook her head a few times. The only way this was going to get resolved was if she confronted the girls directly and that's exactly what she would do. Maybe she would take today to rest after all. Her people could wait a single day while she made sure her daughter was making the right choices… Err, _adoptive_ daughter, that is. _'She's yours! Quit denying it!'_

With that resolution made, she sprawled herself out on the bed and sighed contently, eying the girls occasionally for any sign of movement. It didn't take all that long for the girls to wake up, though she did have to call up the relief crews and tell them to move on without her for today. It technically wasn't the first time she had been absent from the relief efforts. She often made supply runs with Vierge and occasionally joined the border guard to defend against the Gazel. Today was just the first day in a long time she was taking to herself. No doubt Bartholomew would be proud and Fei and Citan would be relieved. They were good friends. Better than she deserved.

Maria was the first to wake, eyes widening in what looked to be shock before they softened considerably and a large grin set in on her face. Releasing the girl from their shared grasp, the brunette reached up to rub her hand across Emmy's cheek. The gesture set off alarm bells in Elly's head, but she stayed silent and unmoving, wanting to see her kin's reaction before she would do anything. The young verdette quickly stirred, unwrapping her hair-arms from her bedmate's frame and allowing them to recede back into the strands that hung from her scalp. The girl only pulled back just far enough to grasp one of the robo-mage's hands while placing another over the one currently stroking her cheek.

"You're here," she said, slight disbelief tingeing her voice. "You're really here."

"Of course I am," she replied, planting a kiss on the girl's forehead. "Didn't I tell you last night? I'm not leaving, and I hope to be there always when you wake up."

' _Okay, this is a little bit close to just be sisterly affection,'_ Elly decided, starting to feel more than a bit weird at her apparent voyeurism. _'If I didn't know any better, I'd say-'_

The shorter of the two suddenly pulled in for a chaste kiss to the lips which her lover returned without hesitation.

' _Oh.'_

Were she a more "complete" person, then she'd be able to hear the countless voices in her head that were reacting along with her.

' _You've failed in your motherly duties if you let something like this happen. If you can't have a son anymore, could you at least take proper care of your daughter?'_

' _YEAH, YOU GO GET HER, EMMY! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU… so proud.' *sniffle*_

' _Oh my… Is this wrong? I was taught to condemn things like this, but they look so pure… Like fresh summer lilies. Oh, I just don't know how to feel…'_

"Well you two have gotten a lot friendlier, haven't you?" she ended up saying, though it came out less humorous than intended which was probably the direct result of her not knowing what to feel at the moment.

At her suddenly making her presence known, the couple jolted apart. Apparently they were so lost in each other that they forgot that she even existed. Adding to her pile of confusion, she didn't know whether to be insulted or fawning over their adorable passion.

"Elly!" the taller of the pair exclaimed. "I thought you'd be out by now. I was going to rejoin you today."

The read-headed mage felt a pang of guilt strike her heart at that admittance. Half of it was for making the young girl participate in the relief efforts to begin with. They needed all the hands they could get as there was no shortage of refugees coming in, but they were always in a terrible state with their mutations painting the majority of them as monsters more than men in addition to their moans and screams of constant suffering. The only thing that could sate them was the blood of humans which she'd given no small amount to ease their pain. It was part of the reason she was so tired and woozy all the time. Seibzhen's help was invaluable, but to make the young machinist come with her and witness all that still weighed heavily on her heart. She hadn't blamed the girl for leaving when she did.

The other half of her guilt was because she knew just what had inspired Maria to come back, and she was about to intrude on it and possibly send the young one back into despair. She sighed in resignation.

"That's good, but today's going to be a day of rest for me."

The 14-year-old's face was immediately downcast as soon as the words left her lips. "Oh… I thought I could finally help you out again today… I felt so selfish for just crying to myself in here while you were out working hard all this time…"

There it was again: the guilt. She shook her head. "No, don't feel that way. I shouldn't have let you out there in the first place. Besides, you and Emmy ARE helping me out right now."

The girl looked up at her in astonishment to which she just smiled softly.

"As much as I hate to admit it, the good doctor and Fei are right. I have been pushing myself too hard, and today I wanted to…"

She looked at Emeralda with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I know you're not actually my daughter, and I think you know that by now too."

The young verdette looked away for a moment before nodding at her, returning her expression of sorrow.

"But," she continued, "I know you think of me like that… the closest thing you have to a mother, that is. And I… I think of you like that too. You really are like my daughter, and I want to take care of you as if you were my own. Everyone here, but especially you and Fei… you're the only home, the only family I have left."

Even as clueless as the girl could be at times, even Emeralda had to know what she was getting at. Her parents had sacrificed themselves to save her, even after she had treated her mother so poorly, and then the only home she knew had been destroyed by Id in short order. Other than the bonds she'd formed here, she had nothing left. She wanted… no she _needed_ everyone's love and care, and she needed the gynoid's affection more than even she knew herself. That's what this was really about. She'd never felt more selfish.

Without another word, Emeralda got up from the bed, walked over, and wrapped in her an enormous hug. All the arms she could muster sprang from her being and pulled Elly into her embrace. She gasped; startled by the sudden grasp the smaller girl had on her, but quickly freed her arms enough to return it, tears lightly streaming down her face.

"You're right. I know you're not Mama," the girl holding her spoke softly. "But you remind of her; your voice is just as soft when you speak to me and just as kind. It makes me feel really bad for pushing you away so much when I met you. I stopped acting that way because I remembered what… she was like when we were in the Mass Driver. You reminded me"

Elly was amazed at the girl's improved speech. She'd been so focused on caring for the thralls that came in through the gates of Nisan that she hadn't even picked up on her more refined vocabulary and vernacular. It was only now that they had a quiet moment focused on each other that she had noticed. Perhaps she would confront her about it later. What mattered right now was what she was saying and not how she was saying it. In response to Emmy's words, she only hugged her tighter, squeezing her shoulders. "Oh, Emmy. It's okay; you couldn't have known."

"No, it was bad anyway. I was jealous that you were so close to Fei, because I thought he was Kim, and I wanted him to pay attention only to me. Now, what I really want… is to be your daughter, if you'll have me. You can never be Kim and Mama, but I still… love you both like I loved them."

At that moment, Elly felt like a metal foundry, every part of her melting at the bare heart of the girl whose head rest on her shoulder while parts of her began to harden, namely her resolve to care for and defend her newfound daughter. Ah, she no longer felt uncomfortable with the concept. The young girl before her truly was her kin in all but legal terms, not that it mattered much anymore. Later she would learn that this was in part the Will of the Mother reacting to Emeralda's Contact Genes which were etching the young one's will into the Zohar at the same time, but it didn't matter. By that time she would truly be the little robot girl's mother anyway.

"Of course I'll have you, and Fei would never turn you down," she told her, stroking what hair that wasn't currently hugging her, "I would be more than happy if we could be your family."

Emmy pulled back to look at her, eyes tearful but _glowing_ with happiness. "Now I have you and Fei and Maria. I… have a family. I… am loved."

The young gynoid took a moment to wipe her watery eyes. "Are you proud of me, Mama? Kim?"

' _Of course I am, sweetheart,'_ her inner voice responded immediately. _'You are everything your father and I could have hoped for. I am so proud of you, dear, that I wish I could hop out of this thick-headed vessel and hug you. I can't wait until she awakens and I can finally tell you so in person.'_

Yes, all was very well and good for Elehayym Kasim. For Elehayym van Houten, however, things had come crashing down at the mention of Maria. The uncertainty had returned in full force, but this time it was being kept at bay by the iron resolve that had been tempered within her. She still had not come to a decision on whether or not she should allow their relationship, but at least she now had the strength to confront it.

"About Maria… that's what I wanted to talk to you about and why I'm here today."

She winced as Emeralda stopped hugging her and her face fell immediately as she took a seat at the woman's side. Maria, who'd been awkwardly stuck between leaving the room and remaining in the presence of the familial bonding, gave a relieved huff now that she was finally relevant to the conversation again.

"I figured that's what you wanted to talk to us about," the machinist said. "After how you looked at us last night, I couldn't imagine this rolling over very smoothly."

Elly ruefully shook her head. "I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not rejecting it outright. That kind of thinking is what made Solaris so deplorable in the first place."

She lifted her daughter's chin up so she could look her in the eye.

"I just want what's best for you both. And there's a lot to consider. Your ages, the church, your _families_ while we're on that subject…"

The robo-mage just nodded and held up a hand to stop her from saying further. "Before you continue, I want you to know that Emmy was the one who confessed to me last night."

That stopped the older woman in her tracks. She stared at both of them, particularly Emeralda, in shock which caused a blush to light up the tanned girl's cheeks. Maria let out a chuckle before continuing.

"I was the one who denied my own feelings and thought about all those things before coming to the conclusion that I would love her back. It's not something that I would ever decide lightly even as broken as I was."

Hearing this, Elly rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands, trying to sort her thoughts on the matter. From what she could remember, Emeralda wasn't particularly good at expressing herself. She tended to be very blunt about her feelings. Even her earlier admission about wanting to be her daughter had been true of this. She'd said earlier that she loved the older woman, but she was talking about family love which was the kind she'd already shared with her real parents. Did the girl even know what love between lovers was; what it felt like? The red-headed mage thought she knew at least. Her and Fei hadn't quite gotten around to confessing, but they were close enough to be called a couple, regardless.

Taking a deep breath, she kept an eyebrow raised. "You were the one who confessed?

Face reddening further, the gynoid waved her hands in front of her in embarrassment. "I-I-I didn't know t-that it was l-love at first! M-M-Maria helped me w-with that!"

At the mention of the machinist, her gaze was redirected at the brunette in the room.

"You 'helped' her?"

She let out an exasperated sigh before continuing. "Em said she wanted me to stop crying, so she held me at night to drive away my nightmares. She also said that she feels light-headed and her heart starts beating faster whenever she thinks about me. And after she confessed, she basically told me she idolizes me."

Her own face was growing hot at recounting the details and she looked away bashfully.

"It's exactly the kind of behavior I've read about… young maidens in love in the volumes of Shevat's libraries. I know they're idealized and that they're all about men and women, but… I was feeling the same way about her. We were, um, attracted to each other, so I concluded that we should move forward."

Elly blinked in surprise. _'So, they DO know how it feels when you're first starting out… but, they've only just confessed to each other. They've gotten the easy part out of the way and they haven't had to deal with the hard part yet: staying together.'_

She could only sigh at the revelation. It didn't make things easier. If anything, it made them harder because she knew that it meant the two wanted to be together and that pulling them apart would be especially painful for the three of them if they ended up not being right for each other. After she had just agreed to becoming her daughter, Emeralda might already come to hate her.

Her conflict was broken by another sigh from the machinist, causing her to look back up at the girl.

"Look, Elly. I know you care, I know, but this isn't easy for me- for us either," she said, voice full of conviction, "My queen has told me on several prior occasions that when the Gazel, Krelian, and Miang's plans are put to rest, she plans to walk gracefully into the Abyss. Once that happens, her successor will need to take over, and that successor… is me."

Mother and daughter both stared at the girl with widened eyes. "Zephyr's going to let herself die? Wait, Maria… you're going to be a queen?"

"She's lived 400 years too long, she told me. It's what she wants." The machinist gave the both of them a sad smile. "As for me, I don't know why my queen chose me. Perhaps it was my family, perhaps it was my determination to defend my country, or perhaps it was because I was the first person in her court to make her smile in a good 300 years. It was the happiest day of my life- well, second happiest now- when I saw her smile at something I had said: a joke or an observation about life. I can't really remember anymore. All I remember is that later that week, she declared me as her direct successor."

Emmy just continued staring at her for a few moments before the full implication of what her love had just said dawned on her. "Wait, so that means…"

A much more tender expression found its way to the brunette's face. "I won't force you to come with me, but if you do decide to, then yes. I'm still two years away from legal adulthood by the laws of my people, during which time you would be considered my Consort. After that, though, I could make you my Queen."

Elly could only continue to stare, mouth agape, as her daughter adopted a dreamy expression. _'Was that an informal marriage proposal? ALREADY?'_ A certain aspect locked deep within her was dying of happiness, but the apprehension had not dissipated yet. In fact, it had grown considerably during that little exchange. Now she would not only have to deal with her daughter being in love with a woman but also becoming a queen as well? This was too much.

"What about your court?" she questioned, incredulous that this would be easy in any way. "Don't you need a successor to continue your line?"

A light laugh was what she received as a response. "My queen will take the Elders with her. They have also lived too long, she decided, and they're just as tired and regretful. I will have to establish a new court, and with the rule of Solaris broken, I have no doubt that they'll support my decision to marry a woman."

"How do you figure that?"

"Solaris kept the population under their control, even going so far as to use the church to achieve their goal, whatever it happens to be. For the ones who are left, I foresee there being a period of great revision of social norms. People will want to escape Solaris' oppressive standards, and by taking a female lover, I'll be setting an example and potentially opening a haven for people who share such… um, orientations."

The woman tilted her head in consideration. It was a bit naïve, but a surprisingly logical argument. After these mutations, she did suspect the people would do whatever they could to forget Solaris' oppression and relationships would likely be a part of that. Perhaps Maria would make a good queen… but would Emmy? That was the real question she wanted answered, and the heiress could read her like an open book.

"Neither of us would actually rule in full capacity to begin with. Though I have studied with great ferocity for the past few years of my life, I'm not ready to be a queen yet and I doubt I will by the time I'm 16 and able to take the position. I plan to offer the job of my leading advisor to Doctor Uzuki actually, until I am able to take the reins for myself."

' _Citan? That's… actually a pretty good choice,'_ she ruminated _, 'Yui already lives in Shevat and he'll want to be there for her. Though he can be a bit extreme with his methods, he's been nothing but supportive of us so far.'_

"I won't force Emmy to come with me," the girl continued, intent on convincing her big sister figure, "She deserves to make her own choice, and royalty is a hard and stressful life. She'll be required to learn economics, law, foreign policy, and a laundry list of other essentials to make her suitable for ruling. I'd never force that on her, even if she were a boy instead of a girl. And I will have to train a successor on top of everything, to answer your earlier question."

Ah, so that was it. "Will your new court approve of that as well?"

The girl's eyes held uncertainty and a hint of sorrow, but her determination burned above all else. "I am already not of royal blood. And Shevat places more value on ability than blood at this point."

Elly had to admit, the future queen had forethought and she seemed to genuinely care for Emeralda. At least enough to let her go… "Why?" she suddenly asked, feeling the need to ask the question, "Why would you let go of her?"

"If Emmy wants to be with me then it should be because she wants to, not out of obligation or because she feels like she has to support me," she stated, shooting the girl in question a heart-melting smile. "She said she wants me to be happy, and I want the same for her. I have a responsibility to the crown, but if joining me is too much, and being without me will make her happier, then I'll let her go."

"Don't say things like that!" the verdette yelled out as she ran over and embraced the machinist. "How can I be happy if you're not happy?"

"E-Emmy…" she trailed off, returning the hug.

Elly felt something in her heart shifting, the uncertainty that had tainted her earlier dissipating. The decision had pretty much formed in her head already. There were just a few dangling issues to address. She filed away age for now. Maria had shown a surprising amount of maturity for her age, though Emeralda had yet to be seen, but she could sort that out in due time.

"What were the other things I brought up before? Family?"

The robo-mage looked up from rubbing her lover's back as she babbled cutely into the taller girl's shoulder about Maria not sacrificing herself. "Grandfather would probably just laugh and tell me how typical it would be of me to fall in love with a machine."

The older mage just snorted. "And the church?"

"I'll have a long talk with Margie when all of this is done. Knowing her, she's probably thought of all of this already and won't bring it up until it's important." Her mouth suddenly curved up into a wry grin. "I'm going to enjoy counter-teasing her about Bart when she tries teasing me about Emmy."

She let out a light laugh before adopting a stern expression. "Emeralda? I want to hear your thoughts on all of this."

Hearing her, the verdette released her hold on Maria and turned around to face her. She did not say anything for a long while, everything they'd brought up swirling around in her head. After what felt like an eternity to everyone in the room, the girl finally did raise her head and look Elly directly in the eye.

"I want… I want to spend more time with you and Fei: to be your daughter for a while longer," she admitted, "and then, I want to leave with Maria."

She looked at them both with a melancholy expression. "Everyone's lost their family. All of us. It's so sad, and I don't want you two to feel sad, because… you're my Mama, Elly and I love you, Maria. I want us all to be a big family so we can all be happy for a little while."

Elly looked stunned and Maria was holding her chin in thought as the robot girl continued.

"But I can't be with you forever, Elly-Mama. I've got to become my own person some day. That's what Kim wanted from me and that's what I want for myself. So, I want to be with Maria, because it's something I made happen on my own. I fell in love with her myself and not because of anything you or Fei or Kim or Mama did. So, I want to work hard and keep being with her. When I'm with her, I am myself."

Mind already made up, the 20-year-old soldier waited a few moments to make sure her daughter was finished before getting up, walking over to the two girls, and pulling them into a tight bear hug, which she was perfectly capable of even in her exhaustion. Nope, her military training hadn't gone to waste in the slightest!

"You two are far too serious for how young you are," she whispered affectionately to them, "but I don't have the heart to interfere. As long as you keep it romantic and go no further, I'll allow it without protest."

The young couple's faces lit up brighter than the sun at that statement. The fact that they were all tightly pressed against each other in their bed clothes only served to exacerbate the embarrassment.

The soldier pulled back slightly so she could look at them, smiling brightly at the girls in her arms. "So, how about it, Maria?"

The robo-mage gazed up at her, confused. "Huh?"

She gave the young one a catlike grin. "Emmy here wants us all to be a family. You want to be a part of it too?"

"Uh, um I guess I-I've always seen you l-like a, um… big sister?" the brunette stuttered out, causing the elder woman to laugh.

"Heh. A little daughter and a little sister. I think I can deal with that." She hugged them tightly again, and this time they joined in, making it a three-woman affair. She hummed happily at the warmth and tenderness that they were all sharing.

*GROWL*

It wasn't clear whose stomach had let out such a terrible noise, but one look at the clock in the room confirmed one thing.

"My, we've been talking for three hours," Elehayym mused. "I think it's about time we got up for a meal before we lose even more energy, and also before someone comes looking for us."

After being released from the loving prison that Elly had held her in, Emmy immediately hopped off the bed and took her right hand and Maria's left, pulling them both up.

"Let's all go together!"

The soldier merely gave her an encouraging smile as she finally felt herself relax, especially after seeing the young girls share another kiss, sending the machinist into a blushing mess.

' _Fresh summer lilies, huh? I wonder where that thought came from?'_

Shaking her head, she pressed the door button, causing it to slide open and she was surprised at what she found on the other side of the door.

There, standing on the other side of the door with an arm raised, poised to knock, was the dark-haired man of her dreams. He stared at the three of them, eyes darting between them, before awkwardly lowering his hand and coughing into his fist, head turned away from them.

"I just came to check up on you. When they told me you weren't coming in today, I got worried. Are you alright?" he questioned, still not looking at them.

' _He must be embarrassed since we're all still in our pajamas,'_ she mused.

"Of course I'm alright. Would you mind joining us for a late breakfast, though? There are some things we need to talk about."

 **A/N: Well, that was longer than I'd intended. I really didn't think I'd make it to the length of the first chapter with this one, but the words simply kept flowing and here I am. These three just have way too much baggage to sort through, I swear. Anyway, yeah, now that that's out of the way, the next batch of Reaction chapters will most likely be a lot shorter than this one.**

 **Forgive me my creative liberties that I've taken here with stuff like Emmy connecting with the Zohar and Maria being Zephyr's heir. Again, this is casual for me and I had a couple ideas I wanted to run with. Anyway, I better sign off before this actually reaches the prior chapter's word count.**

 **Thanks for reading, everyone… all six of you. Ciao!**


	3. Reactions: Fei - Bigger Fish to Fry

**Disclaimer: Xenogears belongs to Square, though they only care about Final Fantasy**

"Speech" / _'Thoughts'_

 **Yggdrasil IV (Gun Room; Nisan Docks)**

"Here you are Master Fei, Miss Elly, Maria, and Emeralda," Maison said politely, placing trays of food down on the table, "I hope you find it agreeable."

The man quickly bowed and retreated back to his kitchen, where he was no doubt fixing a nice batch of tea, leaving Fei with the three women sitting across from him, or at least one woman and two girls. He was more than a little confused at why he was currently here, watching the three of them eat a breakfast of cooked rations (They'd given the fancy stuff to the people of Nisan). He'd been in the border guard the whole morning and when he heard Elly had not left her bedroom all morning, he knew he had to check up on her. What he'd found was certainly not what he was expecting: The three gals, all dressed in their nightwear walking out of the bedroom hand-in-hand with Emeralda in the middle, all looking strangely happy. Now, while he was a simple man of the country, he liked to think himself at least somewhat observant, and this was quite unusual for the three of them as of recent.

To be frank, Elly looked like a walking corpse these days and though the wear and tear had not disappeared by any means, she seemed content at least which was a stark contrast to the depression she been going through in the past few months. Similarly, Emeralda, who had been consumed with worry over all her friends especially him and Elly, looked like she didn't have a care in the world, and Maria, who hadn't left the ship in about a week as she hadn't been able to take the agony of the mutated populace, held a tiny smile on her face and was stealing glances at… Emeralda every so often.

He raised an eyebrow at that but he wouldn't say anymore. Whatever had caused the change in the three of them, he wouldn't even think of disturbing. To see Elly as bad as she'd been the past few weeks was killing him inside and Emeralda and Maria's own depressions had only further soured his mood. Now that they looked as happy as they did, he felt something in his heart which had been pulled taut to the point of breaking begin to loosen and relax. A smile even graced his lips as he looked on the woman he… loved.

Shaking the thoughts of a potential confession from his head, he realized that despite the fact that she had been the one to invite him to table, he would have to be the one to kindle the conversation. After all, she did have "things" to talk to him about and he was curious about what they could be. So, with that in mind, he cleared his throat, causing the women to pause in their meal.

"Sorry for interrupting, but you said you needed to talk to me about something?" he told them as politely as he could. The goal was to keep them happy and that wouldn't do with Elly angry at him.

The woman did look up at him as if she'd just remembered he was in the room before a blush settled in on her face. "Sorry, I was so hungry I forgot my manners… Yes, there is something I have to talk with you about and it concerns these two," she said, indicating the two girls at her left.

Fei's brow furrowed, sensing that he might not like what she would tell him, but nodded his head. "Alright, go on."

"Well, first thing's first," she told him, taking a deep breath, "Emeralda has asked to be our daughter."

He looked back and forth between the two of them, viewing his red-haired companion's awkwardness and the verdette's somewhat nervous expression. _'Funny,'_ he thought. _'The way they look, I was expecting something more serious than that.'_

"Is that it?" he asked incredulously, "I mean… I thought she already was. She certainly acts like it."

The sigh he received from his closest companion indicated that he'd made a faux pas again. The morals that he'd gained from the closest thing he'd had to a father, Chief Lee of Lahan, had brought many good things into his life, the best of which was the beautiful woman sitting across from him, but sometimes he wished he could have been raised in higher society so he could better understand the subtleties of expression and conversation.

"No, you don't understand," she replied, shaking her head, "She can't be ours by blood obviously, but she wants to be our daughter in every other sense of the word. We would care for her and she would be our legal successor…"

She trailed off, but honestly, though he was a bit startled, his perception of this hadn't changed much from before. Emeralda already acted like their daughter, and he at least had begun to act more fatherly to her since they'd first settled in Nisan. Whenever she was hurt or feeling bad, he was there for her; he tended to be always aware of her location and state of health, even when he wasn't actively trying to find out; he let her sleep next to him at night whenever she asked; etc. He didn't know what happened in the Mass Driver facility, but she had definitely grown a lot closer to Elly as well. He saw her act in a fairly similar way as he did around the little gynoid. So, what was so odd about the two of them taking the girl under their roof?

The martial artist's cheeks flushed a little when he realized what had just entered his mind. _'Our roof… That's right, we're not actually a couple… So, I guess it would be a little weird.'_

Now that the room was drenched in a very uncomfortable silence, and his apparent daughter-to-be was staring at him with the largest pair of puppy-dog eyes he'd ever seen on anyone, he figured he better say something.

"Um… What would be, uh, required if we were to, um… go through with it?"

The two of them looked relieved at hearing that he was at least considering it, which was good. Again, he didn't want to ruin the good mood.

"Well," the former Solarian began, "there would be documentation drawn up and we would be required to sign a number of contracts, binding her to us. She's a foreigner and a robot from thousands of years ago- Um, no offense Emmy…"

The young girl just waved it off. "It's fine, Elly-Mama; I won't deny what I am."

Fei had to raise an eyebrow. _'Elly-Mama? That's pretty forward… And when did she get to be so good at speaking? Must be all the time spent around Maria… Speaking of which, why-'_

His internal questions were cut off by the soldier continuing. "Anyway, we'd need to get official documentation for her. After that, there would be ceremonies to perform, at least for her to be spiritually recognized as ours, and plus it would be something to celebrate wouldn't it?"

She'd said the last part with a smile and appropriately so. He was thinking the same thing.

"It would be a lot easier if we were married, but I plan to go through with it alone if I have to."

"Would you want to be married?"

…

…

…

"W-WHAT ARE YOU SUDDENLY ASKING ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT FOR?!" the mage blurted out very loudly. Loud enough to alert Maison, as he could see out of the corner of his eye.

It took him a moment to realize the words that had just fallen out of his mouth without any forethought. It became more and more apparent as Elly's face proceeded to go nuclear. It certainly wasn't helping that Maria had burst out into a laughing fit and Emeralda was just staring at him wide-eyed.

His own cheeks going fiery, he turned his head away from her. "Uh… I-I just, I mean-"

The martial artist swore under his breath at his forwardness. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her to try and get himself out of this situation, but he also couldn't think of a good excuse for what he'd just said. Another area in which his simplicity and morals were impeding him, which caused him to sigh internally.

Managing to contain her blush, the soldier managed to wave her hands in front of her. "L-Look Fei, I want your help taking care of Emmy, but I don't want you to marry me out of obligation. That's just depressing and it wouldn't make either of us happy."

' _Wait, she thought it was out of obligation?'_ he thought. "You don't really think I'd do that, do you? Marry you out of convenience?"

"What other reason is there?"

"…"

He was afraid. Even though the opportunity was sitting right in front of him, he couldn't find the courage to say what needed to be said. He wanted to be there for her and he tried his damndest to be in these times of strife, when she was pushing herself to the very limits. The issue, however, lay solely with him. After learning of his fractured mental state and that Id was a part of him, he couldn't bring himself to trust himself. Sure, he had Taura's emotional control device on his wrist at all times, but that was only a temporary solution and there was no way he could be sure it would work forever. Elly already had enough of her own burdens; she didn't need his personal identity crisis on top-

"Oh, just confess already! If me and Emmy can do it, then you two can too!" Maria yelled out, exasperated, before reaching over and pulling the shorter girl into a kiss in an obvious display.

In a few seconds, his mind had gone from full of internal conflict to completely blank. Though he could swear there was a small part of him locked away in the deepest recesses of his mind that felt really happy for some reason.

Absentmindedly, the chi master reached over and picked up the pitcher of tea that Maison had so kindly lain out on the table earlier and poured himself a cup, making sure to add sugar to take the edge off the flavor. Tentatively, he took a sip, silently noting that he used too much sugar with a light cough. Ignoring it, he downed the rest of the cup while silently musing about how tea leaves were just about the only constant food supply they still carried under the old butler's insistence…

' _Wait, why am I thinking about tea?'_

"Oh dear, I didn't break him did I?" he heard a young machinist quietly ask, "I know my way around just about any machine you can put in front of me, but I have no idea how to fix people. Elly, please help."

"Err… No, I'm fine," he managed after a light cough. "I'm just a bit surprised is all."

"Well, so am I, and pleasantly so. I'd no idea that Emmy cared about me so much." She only held onto the younger-looking girl tighter which increased her blush.

He looked at Elly, completely nonplussed. "You approve of this?"

"Um… yes," she replied, taken aback slightly by his lack of reaction. "You do too?"

"I don't see why not. They're a little young, but they seem good for each other."

"And you don't think it's… strange?"

Fei gave a light sigh, pouring himself more tea. "I don't have any experience with it. If it happened in Lahan, then it was behind closed doors… But, I haven't come this far on my journey without at least learning to accept new ideas."

*Sip*

"I know the stories and the warnings as well as anyone, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was all started by Solaris to keep people in line. I mean, maybe it won't work out, but don't they at least deserve the chance to show us it can?"

*Sip*

Elly seemed soothed by his words, and the two girls were positively beaming, which seemed to break the ice between everyone. In truth, he had no idea what he was dealing with, but he didn't really tend to judge relationships for his mental health anyway. As long as they managed to be happy, he would be as well and that would be the end of it.

"You know Maria is Shevat's sole heir and Emmy plans to go with her when she becomes queen, right? Zephyr's going to, ah…" she paused for a moment in thought, "retire after the world is saved from the Gazel."

Aside from the odd pause in the middle of her statement, which sounded incredibly suspicious but he quashed the thought for now, this news wasn't all that surprising. Due to her family name, Maria seemed to hold at least some form of nobility in Shevat. He'd been anticipating it when he expressed his thoughts . He wasn't quite expecting her to be the queen, but it wasn't that much of a change.

"I trust the two of them to make whatever decision is best for them and come to us for help if they need it? Come to think of it, Yui lives in Shevat, doesn't she? You should ask the doc for help; he's a genius."

He raised his cup at Maria to show he was referring to her to which she just nodded and gave him a sly grin. "Already thought of it."

"Well," he turned back to Elly, "it looks like they're already doing well before they even take up the mantle. Nothing to worry about."

"Yes, yes, thank you Fei," the soon-to-be-royal said mockingly, that smirk not leaving her face, "Now can we get back to you confessing already. You guys are the most obvious mutual crush I've ever seen, and I'm from _Shevat_. If it wasn't so precious, I'd tell you to be ashamed."

The minute she'd said that, Elly's blush rose up again and the tightness in his heart returned. At first, he thought the same awkward silence was going to play out again, and briefly considered burying himself in thoughts about tea once again. He still didn't have the courage to tell her after all, not with that red demon living inside of him. Before he could mumble some sort of excuse and try to change the conversation, a resolve of some kind set in on the soldier's face.

"Fei, I…" she began, not really looking at him. "Damnit, why is it so hard to say?"

There was another brief moment of silence before she quickly mumbled out the words he'd been so deeply desiring to hear, but also so deeply fearing.

"I want… I-I want 'us' to be a… thing. And I want you to… help me take care of Emmy, but it's not because she wants you to be her father," her voice was slowly growing in volume and feeling. "It's because… I, uh… I, um… Look, I feel 'that' way about you okay?!"

As Fei was processing this, Emeralda looked back and forth between her two parents, before looking at him and loudly proclaiming, "I want you to be my papa too!"

It was all clumsy and awkward and embarrassing, but it made his heart swell, and yet he lamented in spite of it. Now he was going to have to tell her he didn't want to be with Elly because he didn't want her to be hurt. _'Yeah, that should go over well.'_

"I, ah, also… feel that way… about you…" he assured her in an equally awkward manner. Even if he wanted her to stay away from him for the time being, he wouldn't lie to her. That would just end up hurting both of them and more than anything, he didn't want to hurt her. The best thing would just be to lay the truth out in its entirety and figure out what to do from there. "…but I don't think we should, um, be together just yet."

He could see the slight amount of pain and confusion in her eyes, but there was still hope.

"As much as I try to ignore it, my mind is still broken up," he sighed, raising his right arm to show Taura's emotional regulator. "This thing keeps Id at bay, but it's not fixing the problem. He's still in me, and there's still whatever's holding my memories back. I think he called it 'The Coward'."

He looked her directly in the eye. "I can't let myself get that close to you until I know for sure that I'm not going to hurt you. I need to… find myself, to… overcome my weakness before we can be more than we are now."

He looked over at Emmy and his serious visage melted into a far more tender expression. "I will help you take care of Emeralda, though. She's practically my daughter already and if she wants it to be official, then I don't see a reason not to."

The young girl, for all intents and purposes, bolted from her seat, and around the table, to give him a crushing hug. "Thank you so much Fei-Papa," he heard her whisper. A small grin formed on his face as he ran a hand up and down her back.

Despite the grip of the verdette, he could see Elly shoot him a wry smile. "So that's what you're worried about. I understand."

"You do?"

She closed her eyes and nodded. "I have my own weakness I haven't conquered, after all. My damn fear."

The martial artist understood instantly. "Regulus?"

A deep frown decorated her expression. "You were right at the time and you still are now. It's completely irrational for me to fear that thing, and yet, I can't look at the thing without my stomach churning and my heart running at a million miles per hour, and I hate it."

"So, here's what's going to happen," she said, an air of calm settling over her, "From here on, I'm going to pilot Regulus, and you're going to be there support me and make sure I don't run away.

He stared at her in disbelief. "Elly, are you sure? I mean, you don't-"

"Stop," she said, holding her hand up. "Don't think I haven't noticed you trying to protect me in battle, Fei. It's been obvious since we took on Dominia the first time. You keep trying to be my shield, and that's not fair to me at all."

She looked at him, meeting his eyes. "You're nowhere near invincible, and I'm not going to let you die for me. This is what I can do to protect you too. I want the both of us to live Fei, not just me."

He said nothing in return. There was nothing he could say. She was right; he hadn't considered her feelings when he'd vowed to protect her, and he wasn't invincible. At any time, he could die taking a hit for her, and now that he knew how she felt about him… No, he couldn't rely just on himself anymore. If she wanted to protect him too, who was he to deny her? She was just as strong, if not stronger, than he was, and turning her away would be hypocritical. No, he would make a new vow: _'With hers and everyone else's help, I'll keep the both of us safe until Krelian and the Gazel are apprehended and their plans laid to rest.'_

"In return," she continued, "I'll help you sort your mind out. We've got some of the world's greatest minds on our side. There's got to be something we can do, and I'll be there every step of the way."

Suddenly, she walked over and took his hand. "For Emmy's sake too, we should be strong."

"OH, the intimacy of Youth!" they heard a voice boom from behind them, jolting them apart. "Oh, how I wish to see Young Master act in such a way around Miss Marguerite some day!"

It was just Maison, who was retreating to his kitchen once again after setting down a fresh pot of tea which had gone unnoticed by everyone in the room. The old butler was wiping the tears away with a handkerchief as he entered the door on the inside of his bar. The interruption completely unexpected and off-kilter, they all burst out laughing.

After a few moments of levity, Maria was able to stifle her giggling long enough to say, "It's about time you finally admitted it to each other, even if you're not going all the way just yet."

"I've always been just happy to have her near me," Fei told her, Emeralda finally letting go of him as Elly got all hot and bothered again.

"I know the feeling."

"So," he said, indicating her and Emeralda who'd returned to her side, "What are the two of you going to do now?"

"Announce ourselves to everyone in the group, obviously," she returned, as if he should have known already.

With that, she took the shorter girl's hand and the young couple waltzed out of the room, leaving the newly-christened parents unsure of whether or not to go after them.

 **A/N: Yeah, I didn't really like this one. It felt too similar to the last chapter and I'll admit, it got away from me a little. I was pretty tired towards the end especially.**

 **Hope I pleased everyone with the Fei/Elly content. I find their characters a little hard to pin down exactly.**

 **Oh well, now that that's out of the way, we can get to Rico who's up next and I'll get to further show how Maria and Emmy's love is altering time and space.**

 **See you there next time. Ciao!**


	4. Reactions: Rico - Let Go

**Disclaimer: Xenogears belongs to Square, buried in their closet next to Chrono Trigger**

"Speech" / _'Thoughts'_

 **Yggdrasil IV (Gear Hanger #1; Nisan Docks)**

He wasn't surprised when she walked up to him. Even though he avoided everyone else by living down here instead of the Men's Bedroom, or the Executive Quarters aboard the Níðhöggr main body, it wasn't like he was exactly trying to make himself hidden. Ever since he'd "reconciled" with his father, he was trying to stay far away from anywhere he might meet the bastard since he'd come to Nisan to coordinate against Solaris. The old him probably would have killed Sigmund by now, but following around the Boss and his crew had mellowed him out a lot.

"Rico," he heard her say. He gave her a grunt in acknowledgement as he continued his pull-ups.

"Rico, please." This time it was the green-haired one, Emeralda. Now she was worth listening to.

He dropped down to the ground and turned to face them. The two girls were standing side-by-side and holding hands with almost transparent blushes on their faces. His expression didn't change in the slightest as he was entirely unsurprised and unamused. The rest of the crew thought he kept to himself all the time, but the real truth was that he was watching them closely and constantly. If a serious problem arose then it needed to be fixed, and he would do that in the best way he knew how: brute force. Hell, even the threat of it usually frightened the unrest out of 'em. Maybe the Boss would give him the position of Head of Security.

In the case of the girls before him, he'd had his eye on the two of them for a while. Mostly in case anyone tried anything with Emeralda. The girl was the only one on the crew capable of beating him in the ring with the exception of the mad doctor maybe. _'That man's presence is still… unsettling,'_ he shuddered imperceptibly. Fei might have beat him in the arena, but the runt still couldn't match him in hand-to-hand, especially with that suppressor on him. Anyhow, if anyone threatened Emeralda, especially one of the Kislev-crewed Níðhöggr, he would be there to back her up in an instant.

The look he'd seen on the girl's faces when they were around each other was the same look he'd seen on a lot of men and women who were smitten with a girl. He'd beaten many of them in the ring and the arena which had taught him a major lesson. **Love makes you stupid.** So, seeing the two of them like this wasn't exactly brightening his sunny demeanor, but it wasn't like they'd separate if he explained himself. He'd tried that before. It didn't work. So, he might as well make the most of this while he could.

He looked at the little champ. "You sure about this?" he asked stoically, his voice not betraying any of his emotions.

The girl nodded at him silently. That was all he needed and she knew that by now. The two had a bond established by strength, and they understood each other in action far more than they ever could in words.

"Then I need to talk with Balthasar. Alone."

Her face formed a deep frown, and the robo-mage started sweating a little, but Emeralda understood that he wouldn't hurt the kid and nodded at him silently before leaving him with the brunette. For a long time she just stared at him while he judged her, meeting his gaze with a fiery look of her own. It was one of the few things he respected about the girl. What she lacked in physical prowess, she made up for with mountains of determination. Not that it helped her case in his eyes. The girl had no power of her own, nor did she seek it, and for someone who wanted to be at the side of Emeralda, one of the strongest of the crew, that wasn't acceptable.

"She's too good for you," he finally spoke, catching her attention.

"You think I don't know that?" she returned bitterly.

"Not in the way I'm talking about." He could tell she was referring to the girl's simplicity and innocence rather than her strength, the indomitable power of her will.

"Then explain."

A snort escaped his nose as he turned around and walked into the cargo area behind Stier, where he was living nowadays among the crates of replacement parts and ammunition. As he was rummaging through his junk, looking for something, he began to speak.

"You rely on that robot of yours too much, along with your father's memory."

"How dare y-" he heard her yell angrily, but he cut her off before she could continue.

"I'm not going to act like I'm any better. My hatred for my own father held me up for years and now that pity's settled in, I'm trying to find my own strength again."

A rare smiled caught his lips as his hand grasped the thing he was looking for.

"You look at that girl you want to be with. She's holding onto her father's memory just like you, but she's trying to find her own strength too. She wants to be proud of herself just as much as she wants to be proud in the eyes of her parents."

He lifted the box out of the junk pile he'd hidden it in and turned around to face her, meeting her gaze with a steely one of his own.

"By contrast, you rely on your father's memory as a means to judge yourself, and you rely on his weapon without putting in your own strength. You can't do anything on your own. Like I said, you're… not good enough for her."

Shock and realization passed through her eyes as she turned her gaze unto the watch with which she fed commands into Seibzhen, unable to face him. He simply chuffed at her, dropping the box at her feet and turning to walk back to his exercise equipment.

"You're a good fit for us, though. Just like the rest of 'em, you give up way too easily," he remarked, taking a few steps forward before looking at her over his shoulder. "What's in the box is yours; I had the mad doctor make it for you. Not all of us can find strength on our own. Take this chance and find your own strength just like the rest of us."

The wrestler continued walking, not even looking at her anymore.

"Become someone who can match that girl if you want my approval."

* * *

As he walked away from her, she flipped the latches and lifted the lid of the box, finding a parcel inside. Unwrapping the paper, she gasped. Inside the package was a… a hammer. A giant battle-hammer that was about as tall as she was. It had a silver shaft, with a trigger-handle on it, leading up to a silver head tipped with bronze flats on either side, matching the colour of her battle dress.

Grasping the handle of the weapon, she lifted it from the case, surprised by how light it felt. Looking it over, she could identify that it was made of ultra-light metals, meaning that it wouldn't bend or break unless an extreme amount of force was applied, but it wouldn't be too heavy for her to handle either. It wasn't as good as a hammer made out of the tougher ores like Adamantite and Orihalcon, but she couldn't lift those, so she'd have to make do for now.

Compressing the trigger along the shaft at half pressure, she jumped a bit when she saw one end of the hammer pop open, revealing a rocket thruster. She could have been surprised, but Citan had apparently made this. After seeing the Buntline for the first time, she could not bring herself to be startled at anything the man made. There was a reason Bart and Rico called him "mad doctor". It was an apt description despite what a kind demeanor he showed on the outside and one of the reasons she wanted him in her court, though she'd never tell anyone that.

' _My very own weapon… I have to admit, this beats kicking the shins of my enemies… or blowing bubbles at them.'_

She cringed at the memories.

' _Oh God, he's right. I do rely way too much on Seibzhen don't I? No wonder Fei doesn't bring me on indoor missions anymore.'_

Rico's statements had angered her greatly. She'd almost walked away, but the truth presented itself in his words. Her father would always be with her as long as Seibzhen remained intact. His mind and soul remained within, as she'd convinced herself, and he sacrificed himself all of those years ago so that she could grow on her own. _'But I haven't grown, have I?'_ she thought sadly, _'I've been attached to father's memory this whole time, and I've come to rely on it. As long as Seibzhen was around, I knew I was safe and that… he was watching out for me. I used it like a damn security blanket all these years.'_

She looked down at the hammer in her hands. Standing up straight, she gave it a few practice swings. It felt… surprisingly good. She doubted she could ever use her bare fists like Fei, Citan, Rico or even Emmy herself could, but with this, she could find her own way to fight, even craft her own Deathblows. She could… find her own strength, as Rico had said. In truth, all this talk of strength and will wasn't something she understood completely. It was more of a man-to-man thing she guessed, but she did recognize the importance of finding one's own way in the world. It was exactly what she was encouraging Emmy to do this whole time, and she couldn't have her girlfriend losing faith in her for being a hypocrite now could she?

She gave one last look over at the double doors that lead to the catapult deck, where her Gear was stored, before she turned and ran off to find Emmy.

" _I'm sorry father. I know how you loved to coddle me, but it's time for me to let go.'_

A short distance away, a large green-skinned man, who was currently benching the weight of several mechanics on their lunch break, watched her leave; another rare smile appeared on his face. He'd just lit the fire in another acolyte.

And, though he couldn't have realized it yet, he'd just ensured a healthy alliance between the Kingdom of Steel and the Kingdom of the Skies for countless years to come.

 **A/N: Short one this time. There's no real dedicated size on these, so I don't really feel as bad as I normally would about this sort of thing. I'm actually kind of happy with the simplicity of this one.**

 **So yeah, Maria's weapon is a hammer. This is inspired by three things: fanart, Xenosaga III's Mai Magus (which should be obvious to anyone who has played that game), and a toy commercial anime from the 90s featuring a certain lion-chested robot. Now, I only like the final quarter of the show itself, but I have always appreciated the design of the robot and Nobuyuki Hiyama's vocals. So, for Maria's half of the chapter, I was imagining her hammer as that particular golden hammer.**

 **I have no regrets. Anyway, I was thinking about putting Citan up next, but that chapter's going to be a lot of fun to write, so maybe I should put something less fun like Billy or Margie before that. I don't know, what do you guys, my 22 viewers and 1 regular reviewer (who is fantastic for sharing his opinions with me), think?**


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